The 20th anniversary Blu-ray and updated DVD, due out September 29th and available to pre-order
through Shout! Factory, features a new audio commentary from director
Doug Pray – an executive producer on HBO's The Defiant Ones – plus bonus
performances and outtakes, a featurette where original Hype! artists are interviewed two decades later, the Peter Bagge animated short Hate and more.
Looks like this was the only vinyl release for this back in '96, all the Sub Pop artists. Just picked it up for the nostalgia. A full soundtrack vinyl issue would be sweet.
Looks like this was the only vinyl release for this back in '96, all the Sub Pop artists. Just picked it up for the nostalgia. A full soundtrack vinyl issue would be sweet.
Yup. I also have that box. Picked it up on Discogs a few years ago for like 25$. Cool set too!
Pine Knob, MI Lollapalooza 1992 / Soldier Field, Chicago 1995 / Savage Hall, Toledo 1996 / Palace, Detroit 1998 / Palace, Detroit 2000 / Pine Knob, MI 2003 / Showbox, Seattle 2004 / MSG, NYC 2008 / Key Arena I & II, Seattle 2009 / Eddie Vedder Beacon, NYC 2011 / Eddie Vedder Benaroya, Hall Seattle 2011 / Barclays, Brooklyn I &II 2013 / Wells Fargo, Philadelphia II 2013 / Wuhlheide, Berlin, Germany 2014 / Wells Fargo, Philadelphia 1 2016 / Madison Square Garden, NYC 2 2016 / Wrigley 2, Chicago 2016/ Fenway 1, Boston 2018/
Review: New content makes Hype! Collector’s Edition a must see
Oddly, some of the best depictions of the “grunge” scene of the 1990s
have come from non-NW residents: Mark Yarm’s oral history “Everybody
Loves Our Town,” Everett True’s “Nirvana: The Biography” (which covered a
lot more than Nirvana), and Doug Pray’s “Hype!,” just
reissued on DVD and on Blu-ray for the first time. Then again, it might
not be so odd; an outsider’s going to bring more objectivity to the
venture, which can result in getting a fuller picture. Pray’s Hype! is a fond look at “grunge,” but also makes the point that the Northwest music scene encompassed more than that genre.
Hype! was terribly exciting when it was first released in
1996. In the days before Youtube, it was thrilling that Pray managed to
dig up footage of the very first time Nirvana performed “Smells Like
Teen Spirit” in public. But it also put the story in context, going back
to the ‘80s as the scene was coalescing. The inherent insularity of the
Pacific Northwest (lousy weather keeping you indoors so you practiced
more; the lack of touring bands that even came to Seattle meaning there
were fewer outside influences) led to the creation of a style of music
that wasn’t trying to emulate anything. It was also largely for fun;
those who wanted to “make it” in the music biz moved to NYC or LA.
The end result of was a music scene that didn’t take itself too seriously, which is an important element of Hype! Grunge was seen as angst-ridden music, which totally overlooked the humor that pervaded the scene: Mudhoney’s
hilariously over-the-top performances, “grunge slang,” what
photographer Charles Peterson calls the “element of dumb.” These weren’t
bands, as “godfather of grunge” Jack Endino puts it, who were aspiring
to technical perfection; they simply wanted to have a good time.
There’s a great roster of interviewees, and not just drawn from well-known acts like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Bruce Pavitt and Jon Poneman from Sub Pop Records. There are also interviews and live performance clips of the Mono Men, the Gits, Coffin Break, Some Velvet Sidewalk, the Fastbacks, Gas Huffer, Dead Moon, and Flop, among others, nicely illustrating the breadth of the musical offerings. Some fun (if brief) archival clips too, of the U-Men and the pre-grunge cult film Rock ‘n’ Roll Mobster Girls (which starred the Doll Squad).
Among the bonus features is a short “Hype! 20 Years After” film, with
new interviews. Everyone seems pretty grounded; Mudhoney, for example,
signed to a major as a result of the grunge mania, got dropped, but are
still out there making music. It’s also decidedly poignant. The music
industry is quite a different beast now compared to 20 years ago, and it
seems unlikely a scene could develop and flourish the way it did during
the 1980s and 1990s; now bands are scrutinized from the get go, filmed
and documented, “hyped” in a way it wasn’t possible to imagine back
then. Developing out of the spotlight was what enabled the Seattle music
scene to be so distinctive; no one was playing up to anyone’s
expectations.
Hype! is a lively and engaging look at the period when Seattle was the center of the rock universe. And what a time we had.
There will be a special 20th Anniversary screening co-presented with
Northwest Film Forum in Local Sightings Film Festival. Director Doug
Pray, producer Peter Vogt and others will be in attendance and there
will be live music before the screening! Get tickets HERE.
The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.
Comments
Available on Amazon USA .. https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B07447SLFC/panandscathed-20
This title will be released on September 29, 2017.
The 20th anniversary Blu-ray and updated DVD, due out September 29th and available to pre-order through Shout! Factory, features a new audio commentary from director Doug Pray – an executive producer on HBO's The Defiant Ones – plus bonus performances and outtakes, a featurette where original Hype! artists are interviewed two decades later, the Peter Bagge animated short Hate and more.
Looks like this was the only vinyl release for this back in '96, all the Sub Pop artists. Just picked it up for the nostalgia. A full soundtrack vinyl issue would be sweet.
http://www.northwestmusicscene.net/review-new-content-makes-hype-collectors-edition-a-must-see/
Review: New content makes Hype! Collector’s Edition a must see
Oddly, some of the best depictions of the “grunge” scene of the 1990s have come from non-NW residents: Mark Yarm’s oral history “Everybody Loves Our Town,” Everett True’s “Nirvana: The Biography” (which covered a lot more than Nirvana), and Doug Pray’s “Hype!,” just reissued on DVD and on Blu-ray for the first time. Then again, it might not be so odd; an outsider’s going to bring more objectivity to the venture, which can result in getting a fuller picture. Pray’s Hype! is a fond look at “grunge,” but also makes the point that the Northwest music scene encompassed more than that genre.
Hype! was terribly exciting when it was first released in 1996. In the days before Youtube, it was thrilling that Pray managed to dig up footage of the very first time Nirvana performed “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in public. But it also put the story in context, going back to the ‘80s as the scene was coalescing. The inherent insularity of the Pacific Northwest (lousy weather keeping you indoors so you practiced more; the lack of touring bands that even came to Seattle meaning there were fewer outside influences) led to the creation of a style of music that wasn’t trying to emulate anything. It was also largely for fun; those who wanted to “make it” in the music biz moved to NYC or LA.
The end result of was a music scene that didn’t take itself too seriously, which is an important element of Hype! Grunge was seen as angst-ridden music, which totally overlooked the humor that pervaded the scene: Mudhoney’s hilariously over-the-top performances, “grunge slang,” what photographer Charles Peterson calls the “element of dumb.” These weren’t bands, as “godfather of grunge” Jack Endino puts it, who were aspiring to technical perfection; they simply wanted to have a good time.
There’s a great roster of interviewees, and not just drawn from well-known acts like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Screaming Trees, Mudhoney, Bruce Pavitt and Jon Poneman from Sub Pop Records. There are also interviews and live performance clips of the Mono Men, the Gits, Coffin Break, Some Velvet Sidewalk, the Fastbacks, Gas Huffer, Dead Moon, and Flop, among others, nicely illustrating the breadth of the musical offerings. Some fun (if brief) archival clips too, of the U-Men and the pre-grunge cult film Rock ‘n’ Roll Mobster Girls (which starred the Doll Squad).
Among the bonus features is a short “Hype! 20 Years After” film, with new interviews. Everyone seems pretty grounded; Mudhoney, for example, signed to a major as a result of the grunge mania, got dropped, but are still out there making music. It’s also decidedly poignant. The music industry is quite a different beast now compared to 20 years ago, and it seems unlikely a scene could develop and flourish the way it did during the 1980s and 1990s; now bands are scrutinized from the get go, filmed and documented, “hyped” in a way it wasn’t possible to imagine back then. Developing out of the spotlight was what enabled the Seattle music scene to be so distinctive; no one was playing up to anyone’s expectations.
Hype! is a lively and engaging look at the period when Seattle was the center of the rock universe. And what a time we had.
There will be a special 20th Anniversary screening co-presented with Northwest Film Forum in Local Sightings Film Festival. Director Doug Pray, producer Peter Vogt and others will be in attendance and there will be live music before the screening! Get tickets HERE.
2003-02-20 Melbourne
2006-11-13 Melbourne
2006-11-14 Melbourne
2006-11-16 Melbourne
2009-11-22 Sydney
2011-03-18 Sydney
2011-03-19 Sydney
- Christopher McCandless
If you have a Blu-ray drive in your computer, there's a good chance that it would work on that.